Terry Francona didn’t come to the Cincinnati Reds to babysit a feel-good rebuild — he came to stack wins. And his first public hints about the Reds’ 2026 bullpen didn’t sound like celebration notes; they sounded like a to-do list. When a manager with his résumé says, “We’ve got to re-do our bullpen a bit,” that’s not throwaway noise — it’s a warning shot to every arm on the depth chart.
The 2025 group did a lot right, from Emilio Pagán’s career year to Connor Phillips’ electric flashes, but Francona’s tone made one thing clear: nobody should assume their role is safe, and the ninth inning is very much back up for grabs.